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Joshua, Lawyer

Category: Family Law

Satisfied Customers: 26070

Experience: LL.B (Hons), Higher Prof. Dip. Law & Practice

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my Mother died in October 2013. My Father died in 1988 no Probate

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my Mother died in October 2013. My Father died in 1988 no Probate was necessary as everything passed to my Mother.Probate has been granted but I have a problem with the amount that the final estate was.Is there any way that I can contest probate now that it has been granted.Yours SincerelyXXXXX XXXXX

Hello and thank you for your question. I will be very pleased to assist you. I'm a practicing lawyer in England with over 10 years experience.

Joshua :

Who is the executor of your mothers estate please?

Joshua :

Are you a beneficiary of her estate?

Joshua :

What is your concern regarding the value of her estate?

Customer:

My Brother, Sister & my Husband

Customer:

Yes I am a beneficiary

Customer:

Several financial discrepencies

Joshua :

Thank you. Are you able to expand briefly on one or two examples of the irregularities?

Customer:

I had a Building Society Acct With my Mother as an emergency source of money for her

Customer:

I had not seen the book since the day the Acct was opened until my Brother gave it to me in April.

Customer:

There is a withdrawal of £9000 in cash in June as well as an £11000 difference from one book closing to the current one opening.

Customer:

My brother has denied all knowledge of this.

Customer:

The Bldg Society has confirmed that it was a cash withdrawal

Customer:

When my mum became ill the accounts held by Halifax totalled about £70 000.

Customer:

The figure my brother came up with was £54000

Joshua :

Thank you. Does your husband agree with your views on the matter?

Customer:

Yes.

Customer:

He agreed to my Brother doing probate himself but has not seen any official paperwork to do with the £ of the Estate

Joshua :

Thanks. Your husband as an executor can unilaterally pursue the matter with or without the other executors. A cash withdrawal of that amount would obviously not be able to the carried out via a hole in the wall. It would have had to be carried out with a cashier. Your husband can contact the bank under s1 Administration of Estates Act as an executor of the will and request information relating to the transaction including how it was authorised, who signed off the request for the withdrawal and so on and if not satisfied with the same can report it as a fraud. The bank will have records of the basis for the withdrawal which as above can be released to your husband under s1 of the above Act.

Joshua :

Using the same you will hopefully be able to establish who authorised the withdrawal. If it is not possible to establish then he may wish to report the withdrawal as a potential fraud and ask the bank to formally investigate. If it is possible to establish the "guilty party" that party can either be reported to the police and/or a civil claim be made against them for the return of the money to the estate.

Joshua :

If the withdrawal is a genuine fraud by an unknown third party then the bank may be liable to return the money depending upon the circumstances.

Customer:

In June 2012 My Mother had 6 Accts. totalling£70646.05 this figure would have increased due to pensions being paid in the Halifax.

Customer:

Both nher and my Fathers Pensions

Joshua :

As above your husband can request any information regarding your mothers accounts he wishes as an executor

Joshua :

If it becomes necessary to request further information to investigate further your husband has the right to do so.

Joshua :

Is there anything above I can clarify for you?

Customer:

Can my husband ask a solicitor to deal with this as my brother is not forthcoming and in fact slammed the phone down on him

Joshua :

He can though he would need to be careful of costs. Your husband does not need to go through your brother to obtain the above information though if he is an executor and can simply obtain the documents required from the bank directly. he may give consideration to at least investigating the above himself initially as you can do this as well as any solicitor.

Customer:

All I want is an official letter from a solicitor saying that he is looking into the descrepencies.

Customer:

Would that be possible ?

Joshua :

It would be possible though a solicitor would likely charge upwards of £150 to write such a letter as a new instruction. Such costs may or may not be recoverable depending upon what is ultimately discovered on investigation. Therefor my view would be that it may be better to investigate first directly with the bank before involving a solicitor but if you consider the above is money well spent then it is certainly possible to instruct a solicitor to write such a letter.

Joshua :

is there anything else I can help you with?

Customer:

No I don't think so

Customer:

Thank you for your time

Joshua :

A pleasure. If I can assist any further as the situation develops please do no hesitate to let me know.

Joshua :

If you have no further questions for now I should be very grateful if you would kindly take a moment to rate my service to you today. Your feedback is important to me. If there is anything else I can help with though please reply back to me though.

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